I read where ‘Paul, as his custom was, went into the synagogue and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead’.
I thought about his audience; they were Jews. For as long as they could remember, they had been taught that the Christ would come as a king. Understandably, they had trouble accepting that this lowly Jesus was the one they were looking for. In spite of the fact that ‘God had accredited Him by the miracles He was able to perform’, and then further accrediting Him by raising Him from the dead, many, just simply, were still not buying it. And so Paul and the other church leaders of the day spent much of their persuasive energy trying to convince the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
But what about today? We, for the most part, have been taught that for as long as we can remember. We don’t need to be convinced. We already believe it. Somewhere though, there has been some kind of breakdown. To varying degrees, our believing has just become a part of all the other stuff we believe. It doesn’t occupy the space within us through which and from which all other stuff flows. We have given it its spot, or corner, and we call on it or take it out occasionally when it seems appropriate or beneficial.
Today, with this kind of believing, many are still able to shack up, overindulge, speak with foul language, use crude humor, watch inappropriate movies, listen to inappropriate music and read inappropriate books and magazines; all contrary to the principals of the One in whom we believe, yet all coexisting semi comfortably.
Today’s gospel is not so much that we should believe; we already do. We need to be convinced that if we believe it should change the way we live. It’s not enough to believe ‘in’ God; we need to believe God. We need to believe what He said – know what He said – and then adjust our lives to align with what He said. It is not living as we please; it is living as would please Him.
No matter where we are, there will always be room for improvement; I have plenty. But I believe, overall, there is much room to become more acquainted and committed to the things that please the God in whom we believe. Conversely, I believe there is much room to become more acquainted and committed to the things that displease Him. This, I believe, is the gospel we need to hear and be convinced of today.
Hunger and Thirst 
Thank you for this, Mike. It explains a lot of why we are as we are, how we believe in Him, but don’t believe Him nor let that belief really change our lives. You’ve given us all much to think about, what we will do with our belief this year. Keep it in the corner or place it front and center in our hearts and lives?
Loren from answersfromthebook had a good post from Romans, about how we must first establish that we are totally defunct without Him. I’m not sure if we all really understand and believe that either.
God bless you and yours and your 2011 believing God!
It unfortunately took me years to realize that the brain He gave me was not so much to run my life but to follow His lead. I am better at it than I used to be, but there is still that tempting to think I know – to want to know – to try and figure it out. That is usually like falling into a well that has no bottom. You can’t figure it out. All you can do is follow close.
Don’t know if you ever saw this poem or not, but it is fitting here.
Is it Any Wonder
Is it any wonder that He knows
the steps that I should take?
He goes ahead to clear the way,
a path for me to make.
He alone knows where I’m bound
and how to get me there;
to follow close and listen well,
this my only care.
Mike,
I am so stealing this for my blog. You will get full credit of course.
This was a scorcher. And rightly so. (Can you smell that? It’s me. I got burned, myself.) Thanks!
Donald . . . you are too much. 🙂 That one burns us all.
David Wilkerson once said about his preaching that he does not preach in line with how he lives, he preaches the truth and strives to live up to it. I’m not a preacher, but I find I do the same with my writing. We all fall short, but it is good to keep the ideal in front of us. I think we have been guilty of dumbing down and I think that is what my journey is about now – finding where we have went wrong and then striving to align my life with what I discover.
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Ouch!
Your first comment. Sorry it had to be ‘ouch’. But . . . it pinches me too.
Good post. I wonder if part of our problem is that we have been preaching that salvation is all about forgiveness and heaven (which it is), but failing to point out that it is also about a new life in Christ. God wants to save us from the power of sin, not just the penalty. If we preach only the penalty part, then we can treat sin lightly – we’ll be forgiven anyway. We’ve missed an important part of the gospel message.
Great post … this is a message that many need to hear — as Christians we need to come to a point of honesty in our spirit – and if we REALLY believe then how should that affect our life? What would our life look like? We would put God first. We would spend time with Him on a regular basis. We would seek to KNOW Him. It isn’t about works. It is about a relationship. If we have the relationship – then the works follow as they should.
Rachel
Brian and Rachel,
I thought of both your comments tonight when I was reading the Forward to a new book called ‘Bonhoeffer – Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy’. First a quote by Luther, “We are saved by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone”. Followed by this by the writer of the Forward; “That is, we are saved, not by anything we do, but by grace. Yet if we have truly understood and believed the gospel, it will change what we do and how we live”.
I am a little guy who believes a big message. And I truly do believe that this is the message that God is stirring in His church. I believe we are on the front end of an awakening.
Let me know what you think of the book. I have heard good things about it.
Yeh it does sound good and I do intend to get it. Last night, my wife and I were doing the usual Friday night dinner out and Barnes and Noble routine. She found the book for me, but unfortunately I have used all my book allowance for awhile. 🙂 I just bought ‘First Family’ about John and Abigail Adams and ‘Visioneering’ by Stanley, so you might get to it before me.
I read recently about being on the backside of the desert. Now I’m reading about being on the front end of an awakening. Praying that it be so!
That back side of the desert thing is getting old. I am more than ready to be on the front end of something. 🙂 I really do think we are.
Hope it’s not inappropriate to be laughing! 🙂
Not at all. It’s not very often I have a light hearted moment on here. Glad it didn’t go to waste.
Very good message, Mike! You are right to say it is not enough to believe IN God, you must believe God!! We are told in Scripture that you cannot please God without faith. And by the faith, you must not only believe that God is who he says he is; you must also believe that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. I think we all believe God UNTIL a storm shows up in our lives. Then it takes REAL faith to believe God is faithful to his word when our world is shaken. To live for Christ, you have to believe that the God of the mountain is still very much the God of the valley too! In all things, God is always more than able to bring us through.
I think the storms reveal how much faith we really have. A severe one will try every fiber of it. It is easy to think we have faith until it is really needed – until the heat is turned up.
But as you’ve said, easy to write, hard to do.